AI for Legal
Legal work is full of text AI can help process. It's also a field where one invented citation can end up in front of a judge. Both things are true.
Where AI genuinely helps
Summarising long documents
Contracts, depositions and discovery bundles can be summarised into issues lists and timelines, giving you a map before you read in detail.
First drafts of routine documents
Engagement letters, standard clauses and client update emails can be drafted from your instructions and edited down.
Issue spotting
Ask it to list every issue a set of facts might raise. It's a useful check against tunnel vision — as long as you treat the output as a list of questions, not answers.
Plain-English explanations for clients
Turning a dense clause into something a client understands is a translation task AI handles well.
Where your judgment stays primary
Verify AI research against primary sources
Language models invent case names, citations and holdings that look entirely real. Every authority must be pulled and read in the original before it's relied on — courts have sanctioned lawyers for skipping this.
Client confidentiality
Don't paste privileged or identifying client information into tools that aren't approved by your firm and covered by appropriate terms.
Jurisdiction matters
Models blend law from different jurisdictions and different years. Always confirm the rule applies where and when you need it.
Advice is a human act
AI can help you prepare advice. The judgment, and the professional responsibility, stay with you.
Confidentiality and accountability in AI-assisted legal work are live debates. Read the ethics hub.
Prompts for legal
Fill in the brackets and paste into any AI tool. Want more? Try the Prompt Generator.
Contract issues list
Review the contract below from the perspective of [party]. List each clause that is unusual, one-sided or missing compared with a standard [contract type]. For each: quote the clause, explain the risk in one sentence, and suggest a question to raise. Do not cite case law. [paste contract]
Chronology from documents
Build a chronology from the documents below. One row per event: date, event, source document, and any conflicting accounts. Mark any date you had to infer. [paste documents]
Client explainer
Explain the clause below to a client with no legal background in under 150 words. What it means, what it obliges them to do, and the one thing they should watch for. [paste clause]
Research starting points
I'm researching [legal question] in [jurisdiction]. List the key legal concepts, statutes and lines of argument I should investigate. Do NOT provide case citations — I will find and verify authorities myself.